Awards
by issolafox
Summary: After being blackmailed into going to an award dinner,  Buck didn't expect to finish the evening being kidnapped.
1. Chapter 1

Award

Author Megan

Rating FRT

Disclaimer: Mag 7 doesn't belong to me

Author note. Cont. of a drabble. Also, beta by Enola, who does an awesome job beta my stuff.

Buck looked around the room, and breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't

want to be here in the first place but he was ordered. He hated award

dinners, the only reason he was here was that Travis had caught him

before he had gone on vacation. At least the rest of the Team wasn't

here. As his name was called for the award in surveillance, he got up

and received it, never noticing the six men that sat in the shadows

watching him get it.

()()()()

Last week.

Looking around at the empty office, Buck shook his head at the clock.

It was five o'clock on a Friday, and everyone in the office except

for him had disappeared on vacation. Chris and Vin were going to do

a week long horse ride planned out in the wilderness. JD and Casey,

for once their vacation coincided, the two love birds had plans for a

week long vacation in California. The other two love birds of the

group, Nathan and Raine, were going to do a bed and breakfast tour.

Josiah had decided to visit some old friends in New York, and Ezra was

off to a poker championship in Las Vegas.

Which had left Buck being the only one in the office on Friday

afternoon. Not that he had minded, he didn't have any set plans. It

also allowed him to finish up some paperwork on the last several

cases, that long nights and days in the surveillance van and other

perches hadn't let him get done.

Hitting the print button, he listened as the last report was printed

out. Getting up from his chair he stretched, listening to his

joints crack and pop, which told him he had been sitting for far to

long. Gathering the paper off the printer, he stapled them

together, and placed them on top of the pile.

Sighing, he turned off his computer, taking one last look at the

office, he headed with reports in hand out the door. He had one stop

at Travis office to hand in the reports and he would be free for a

week. He, whistle happily he headed towards the office.

Reaching the office, he was just about to place the reports in Travis

in box, when Travis entered. Placing the paper down, Buck turned and

greet the former Judge. "That's the last of the reports, I'm off."

"You haven't replied yet."

Buck stopped in mid motion. "Replied to what?"

"The award dinner, next week."

Buck looked at Travis innocently, "Never heard about that, to bad

I'll be on vacation..."

Buck's voice trailed off as Travis stared at him. Smiling, the

former Judge looked rather like a cat that had found the canary. "It

was rather big envelope, with a nice gold trim, that I placed on

your desk, it looked rather official."

"Oh, that envelope, never opened it, "

"Well, you'll be there, I sent in your invitation ."

"But it's vacation."

Travis just glared. "Its tuxedo and it is next Friday. You will be

there to accept the award."

Biting his lip, knowing that protesting wouldn't do anything. Buck

nodded and after saying a quick 'have a good weekend, made his

escape of Travis's office. Getting to his car, he entered the

truck and sat there staring at the almost empty parking lot. He had

hoped to avoid the award dinner. As, he sat, his mind started wander

back to when he first saw the envelope.

It had been one of the few days he had actually been in the office and

not out in the field. He was just completing one of his reports, when

he spotted the envelope for the first time. It laid on a clear spot,

the gold trim of the envelop being caught in the fluoresce lights of

the office. Curious at the envelope, Buck opened it. After pulling

out a couple of sheets of very heavy paper, Buck checked to make sure

no one was watching him.

Seeing that everyone was busy doing something, he started to read the

letter. After reading the first paragraph he almost dropped the

letter. Looking around the room, he sighed in relief when he saw no

one was looking at him. Putting the letter down, he stared at it for

a minute. He couldn't decide what to do with it. He really didn't

want to go, but if he threw the letter away anywhere near the rest of

the Seven, one of them was bound to find it.

Before he could do anything, he glanced up and spotted Chris heading

his way. Sweeping the letter and other papers from the envelope back

into it, Buck quickly tucked the envelope into a desk drawer.

"Yes Chris?"

"What's that?"

Buck looked around the room, noticing everyone staring at him. "What

is what?"

Glaring slightly, Chris pointed to the end of the envelope that was

sticking out of the desk drawer. "that there,"

Looking down at the gold edge envelope, Buck smiled, "Its an offer

to enter a contest. Figured I would throw it away later."

Staring at Buck for a second, Chris knew Buck wasn't telling the

truth, "We have a meeting with Team 4 about the surveillance you got."

Nodding, Buck got up out of his chair and followed Chris out of the

room, never noticing JD's hand inching towards the envelope.

Shaking his head, he started his truck. Forgetting about the award

ceremony would be his goal until Friday.

()()()()()()()()()

Friday Night.

"Why are we in the darkest corner of this place again. I can barely

see the stage."

Chris growled softly, "Because if Buck knew that we would be here, he

would be out the door as quick as possible."

"But why would Buck do that." JD asked as he tried to spot Buck.

"JD, he just would, he doesn't like getting awards." Chris stated.

The young agent was about to say something else, when Chris glared at

him, shutting his mouth with a audible sound, instead the computer

expert started to scan the crowed for Buck again.

Chris shook his head, and turned back to his dinner of half raw

rib-eye and cold vegetables, as he played with his food, his mind

wander into thinking about JD's question.

The last time Buck had gotten an award, Chris had to almost get the

man drunk, then drag him to the banquet. Sarah, had help, making

sure Buck didn't have an escape route, they had placed the dark hair

man between them at the table. More then once, during the dinner the

two of them had to grab him and keep the rogue from bolting from the

table.

Afterwards the award seemed to disappeared and Chris hadn't seen it

since. Shifting in his seat, his mind focused on other memories of

awards Buck had received. Even in the seals, Larabee would of swore

that if it was for the military disciple, Wilmington would have

disappeared the times he received metals. Not that anyone would know.

Looking down at his plate for a moment, Chris frowned at the pile of

mush that had been created. Putting down his fork, Chris scanned the

room, looking for the elusive surveillance member of the group.

)()(

Seating next to Chris, Vin pulled at the collar of his shirt.

Sighing, he dropped his hands, and stared at the crowd of people at

the banquet. It felt weird to be sitting at a table with the team,

but no Buck. It was much quieter.

In some ways Buck was a mystery to the Texan. He seemed to be loud

and boastfulness and happy all the time, at least that was the first

impression Vin had of Buck. After awhile though, Tanner had realized

that Wilimington was a lot more. The first time he realize it was when he had walked into the office one day.

He had found Buck sleeping on the couch in the break room. At first

he had been taken back, frowning he tried to figure out why the other

agent would be there. Shaking his head he headed into the break area

and started the coffee.

As the coffee started to brew, the smell of it must have woken up the

sleeping man. Watching the big man stir, Vin had waited. When the

eyes had finally opened and the man had stretched and started to sit

up, the dark hair man's eyes landed on Vin. "What time is it?"

"About 7:30, what are you doing sleeping on the couch."

"Sleeping?"

Smiling slightly, Vin reached for a mug. "Figured that out, why are

you sleeping on the couch?"

Buck frowned for a moment, as if he was trying to remember a peculiar

hard memory. "Surveillance, finished late last night, to tired to

head home after dropping off the stuff."

"Thought we finished that two weeks ago?"

"Not our surveillance, helped out Team 3, they were down some men

cause of the flu. Said I would help out."

"Does Chris know?"

"Should, told him I was doing it, he signed off on it."

Before Vin could say anything else, Buck got up from the couch, "Think

I'll get a shower, see ya in a half hour."

As Vin watch him go, the last week or so, they've all teased him about

seeing a new girl that kept him up, but he was out doing Surveillance

for another team to help out. Vin had started to change his initial

idea about Buck that day.

Sound of clapping drew Vin out of his memoirs and back to the real world.

()()

JD stared silent at Chris for a minute, how could Buck not want to

know that they were there for him. Buck was the first to

congratulate any of them if they got a citation or award. Heck, the

big lug, had dragged more then one of them to an award ceremony.

JD knew this wasn't the first award his big brother had won. When he

had moved into the CDC, he was helping Buck clean up, and in the

corner of his closest he had found a cardboard box that was stained

and torn.

Opening the lid, JD stared at the plaques and sealed cases that were

jammed into the box. Calling out for Buck, the young agent frowned

when he didn't hear an answering bellow. Leaving the box for a

moment, he left the room and looked around the apartment. Noticing

that the older agent's keys weren't on the table he noticed a note.

Picking it up, he quickly read it, which stated that surveillance

expert had ran out to get some more cleaning supplies. Putting the

note down, JD made his way back to the box.

Eyeing the cardboard, he tried to ignore it. He didn't want to paw

though someone else's possessions, but his curiosity finally got to

much for him, and he found himself in front of the box, one hand

reaching for the lid again.

Looking around for a minute and not hearing Buck yelling at him to

stop. JD open the first small box he picked up.

Twenty minutes later, JD was startled when a throat cleared behind

him. "Having fun?"

"Your back!"

Grinning, the older agent, walked over to his younger teammate and sat

down next to him. "What ya doing?"

"I didn't, I mean, I wasn't, I... I'm sorry?"

Looking at the open box, the blue eyed man smiled. "Its just some

old metals of mine, you can look at them if ya want. Just put them

away when your done."

"But why don't you have them showing off, on the walls?"

Shaking head, Buck smiled, "Ah, those old things, I just got for

doing my job, not doing anything exiting."

Before JD could say anything, his roommate had gotten up and headed

out the door of the room.

The waiter jostled JD, bringing him out of his memory, looking around

he sighed in relief when no one had noticed him lost in thought.

)()(

Josiah raised his glass of wine to his lips, taking a small sip, the

quietness of his companies didn't brother him. He, himself, was

trying to figure out the sudden enigma of one Buck Wilmington.

Being the profiler of the team, Josiah almost unconsciously profiles

his teammates, it has nothing to do with trust or lack of it, he just

have not found more six diverse men that seemed to define logic or

profiling. Every time he seemed to have a hand on them, one of them

would do something completely out of character.

For one thing, Josiah would have never figured that the rogue of the

team would be the hardest one to get to accept an award. It had been

easier to get the shy Texan to accept a sniper award then Buck

appearing here.

The subterfuge that the six men had to do, to make Buck think that

they knew nothing of the award had to nothing less then the best

acting. What was more of a shock that it hadn't been anyone in Team

Seven or the ATF to nominate Buck for the award, it had been a FBI

director and a Denver PD Captain.

Some quick research the team had learned that the two men had been

impressed with the help that Buck had given them on several cases.

It seemed that Buck was a regular consultant with the two groups on

surveillance. Either conducting it or going through the information

that was gathered.

Buck had even taught some seminars for the arm forces on surveillance.

Some of it the group knew of, other parts they learned that Travis

okay as long as Buck did on his own time.

Josiah was stilled amazed that Buck was able to hide it from everyone

on the team that he did this on his own time, what little they seemed

to have. What more was that Buck didn't see any of this as a big deal.

From what Josiah could figure it, was that Buck just saw it as part of

his job, nothing special, nothing unique. Josiah knew that different

members of the Seven always seem to be getting offers to join one of

the alphabet of agencies, but none of them wanted to go.

This was the first time that it struck him odd, that Buck had never

seemed to get any of those offers. Now Josiah just wonder how many

Buck had gotten and not mention.

For all of Buck's boasting, he did little of sharing truly personal

information. This award was just the top of it.

Taking a sip of wine, Josiah wondered what else Buck wasn't telling

them. The sudden applause jolted Josiah out of his deep thoughts.

)()(

Nathan poked at what was supposed to be chicken something or other.

He didn't trust it, chicken wasn't supposed to be that color orange.

Laying down his fork, Nate looked around the room. After several

minutes he spotted Buck.

Wilmington was sitting next to Travis and another man. Staring at

the man for a few second, Nathan figured out that the man was the

director of the FBI for Denver's branch.

He felt surprise flirt across his face, on how easy Buck seemed to be

talking with the two of them. He would be one of the first to admit,

that the surveillance expert didn't have much trouble talking to

people, but to high powered and connected people was surprising.

Course, Nathan thought he shouldn't be surprised, Buck seemed to

always be full of surprises. The medic had never known someone who

talked so much, but reveled so little about himself.

Come to think of it, the team knew more about Vin's past then of

Buck's. What the team had learned about the rogue's past had been

force to be reveled or a very drunk man had mumbled it. Still for

someone who seemed so open, he knew how not to share any personal

information.

The most information they had on Buck was that his mother was a saint,

and that he had known Chris for many years. Come to think of it.

They didn't know really anything else, how he grew up, or any time

before Buck had met Chris.

The rest of the team, they knew at least if there parents were alive.

Frowning slightly at his mutant chicken, Nathan realize that he never

noticed the lack before.

On the way here, they had heard JD stated that this wouldn't be the

first award that Buck received, Chris had nodded in agreement. At the

time that was enough information for him, but now that he was sitting

here, Nathan wonder what other awards that the big rogue had won or

what other departments he had been helping out.

Sighing, and poking what was supposed to be vegetable matter, Nathan

wonder how likely he would be able to get the agent captured, so he

would be able to ask some questions without the rogue running away.

Shaking his head at the different scenarios that flirted through his

head, Nathan was brought out of the thoughts as his plate of

questionable food was taken from him.

)()(

Letting his eyes wonder the room again, Ezra noting the different

fashions and money that was expressed. Looking over at Nathan for a

minute, wondering if anyone would take the bet with him on how soon

Jackson would be taking the meal to a lab to get an analyses.

Smiling at the thought, Ezra's eyes roamed the room again and

spotted Buck finally. Watching the rogue, Standish couldn't help but

wonder if the rogue was as good as an actor he seemed or if what they

were seeing tonight was the true man.

Out of all of the group, the undercover expert, never thought that

Buck would be the one who was the best at deflecting personal

questions. The surveillance expert had gotten more personal

information out of Ezra then he ever got out of the older agent..

It still seemed that whenever Ezra thought he had a handle on who Buck

Wilmington was, the man himself would do something to change that

perception. Which, Standish thought was annoying. As much has Ezra

enjoying being an enigma, he hadn't excepted to find anyone else who

was more of one then himself.

Buck was one of the first to break through Ezra's defenses, sometimes

almost dragging a protesting Ezra out to the saloon on a Friday night,

or showing up at the undercover experts house on a Saturday.

Dragging him to Chris's ranch for the weekend.

Ezra smiled at as the memory of being kidnapped from his house, and

finding him stuff in the back of the van with Vin and Nathan staring

at him. Apparently Buck had decided that the team had needed a team

day, and was working his way though kidnapping the group from their

domiciles.

JD had been seating up front, egging Buck on, and helping with the

kidnappings.

As much as Ezra hadn't want to trust anyone again, Buck had worked

with all of them, showing that they were a team and that it meant more

then seeing their coworkers at work. More importantly the rogue had

shown that the team could be trusted. That they wouldn't ever betray

each other no matter what.

Trying to ignore the little warm feeling that was running through him,

Ezra turned his attention outward to the award dinner.

)()(

Through all the awards that were given out, the six men ignored them all, until

it had gotten to Buck's award. Watching as Buck made his way up the

stage and accepting it. The team couldn't help but feel proud.

As their teammate walked off the stage, and sat back down, the group

couldn't take their eyes off the man. Each wondering in there own

ways, why Buck hadn't told them.

The dinner broke up. The six men, were out and hanging around the

front of the building, keeping an eye out for their missing member.

Vin was the first to spot Buck coming out, with the award jammed

under one arm. Wilmington almost ran over Chris who had moved in

front of the dark hair man.

The rogue, pulled up just short of crashing into Larabee. Staring at

the leader of team seven, it took several seconds for Buck's mind to

connect to what he was seeing. The rest of the group almost laughed

as the man's head whip around spotting each member of his team.

"What are you guys doing here, I thought you were on vacation?"

Chris smiled. "We'll tell you over drinks."

With that the six men lead the seventh away from the building, to

their favorite bar.


	2. Chapter 2

1Award 2

Quote :

Everyone in our culture wants to win a prize. Perhaps that is the grand lesson we have taken with us from kindergarten in the age of perversions of Dewey-style education: everyone gets a ribbon, and praise becomes a meaningless narcotic to soothe egoistic distemper.

-Gerald Early 1952-, American Author

The rogue, pulled up just short of crashing into Larabee. Staring at the leader of team seven, it took several seconds for Buck's mind to connect to what he was seeing. The rest of the group almost laughed as the man's head whip around spotting each member of his team.

"What are you guys doing here, I thought you were on vacation?"

Chris smiled. "We'll tell you over drinks."

Buck blinking at the group still trying to process that they were at the award dinner. As he was lost in thought, he didn't realize that the group had directed him away from his car towards Chris's SUV. He finally came to himself, after ten minutes of blindly watching the scenery go by. "This isn't the way to the bar."

"Decided to take you somewhere else."

For some reason this information, that was imparted, made Buck worry even more. "Where?"

"Going to the ranch, figure we'll celebrate in private."

Buck nodded, and turned his attention back to outside. He became lost in thought about the nights events.

)()(

The group had arrived at Chris's ranch, they were all seating in the living room, with their drink of choice. Buck, looked at the team members that had sprawled themselves around the room. "So, why aren't you all on vacation?"

"Cause of your award. You don't think we would let you get your award without us there." JD stated.

"Well, since I didn't tell any of you about the award, I wonder how you all showed up at it? Wait, I bet it was the envelope. You opened it and looked at it didn't you." Buck said, as he glare at the group.

"We just wanted to see what was in it. You could of just told us." JD answered.

Grunting slightly as an answer, Buck took another swing of his drink.

"Mr. Wilmington, one needs to wonder why you didn't tell us about the award yourself?"

"Wasn't going to go, so I didn't see the point of mentioning it. Besides it was going to be when you all were going to be away."

"And that has stopped you from dragging us to every award dinner that we've had to go to?" Nathan asked.

Shrugging his shoulders, Buck refused to answer, instead taking another drink.

"So is this award going to go into the box with the rest of them?" JD asked.

Buck narrowed his eyes but didn't say anything, everyone, beside Chris, looked surprised. "What do you mean in the box?" Vin questioned.

"Buck has a box of awards at the CDC."

The group turned to look at Wilmington. "What you guys don't show off your awards either." he stated as he glared at his roommate.

"No, but they aren't also shoved into a dark closest, we all have them display nicely somewhere in the house." Josiah pointed out.

Rolling his eyes Wilmington just shrugged his shoulders. "No place to show them. Besides they're just things I got for doing what I'm paid to do."

"I do not believe that helping other law enforcers on our own time, was part of any of our job description." Ezra drawled out.

"I was just playing nice, they asked for help."

Vin asked a question that had been bugging him, "Why didn't you tell any of us that you were helping other teams and agencies?"

Staring at his glass for a minute, Buck shifted in his seat. "Didn't seem important.

"What if you got hurt, how would the rest of us know.".

Rolling his eyes the rouge just grinned. "Aw hell Nate, I wasn't ever in any danger, most of the time, I just went over the surveillance material that the different groups had acquired and help them figure it out, or sitting in a van and watching the monitors. Couldn't get hurt."

Chris frowned, glaring at the agent, "That wasn't what I heard. Something about hiding out in a condemned building for a weekend, in hopes of getting information."

Muttering something under his breath, the blue eyed agent glared at the team leader. "It was once, I only sliced the leg up a little, wasn't as if I needed to go to the hospital, they were just scared that you would find out and sic Nathan on them or something."

Jackson glared at the comment. "What do you mean sic Nathan on them? How bad were you hurt? When was this?"

Rolling his eyes slightly, Buck responded to the urgent question. "It was a few months ago, nothing to worry about, it didn't bother me at all during the bust the two days later."

Chris frowned slightly. "They didn't say anything about you getting hurt. "

Buck shifted slightly. "I told them not to, besides I didn't even notice it until I got home."

Nathan looked ready to start lecturing about not hiding wounds, when Larabee waved him off. "The deal was that you weren't to be hurt."

"I wasn't."

"Sounds like you were."

"It was a scratch, I've gotten worse."

The group looked at each other for a moment, "Gotten worse?" Josiah asked.

The rogue looked at the group, realizing his mistake he quickly corrected himself. "Worse as in, I've gotten worse working cases with you guys."

Around the room eyebrows raised, cringing at what he said, Buck sighed. "I didn't mean it like that. I meant that the scratch was the worst injury I've gotten working with other teams. They won't let me do anything dangerous."

"They better not." Chris stated.

"Old dog, I don't need a babysitter."

Several chuckles were heard around the room. Glaring at the room, the rogue got up and got another drink.

Exchanging glances, the group waited for Buck to settle again. "So, what case did you work with the FBI that impressed them so much."

Taking a sip of his drink, the dark hair agent frowned. "Just went over some tapes with them, pointed something out, that solved the case for them."

"What case, " Josiah asked again.

"Is it important?"

The group nodded. "Fine it was the Lorne Bird case. "

"The Lorne Bird, the one that every law agencies has been after, the one that said he would never be caught. The one, who no one had a clue what he looked like." JD rambled on.

"Yes, that's the guy, and we figured it out."

"We?" Vin asked.

Shrugging his shoulders, the rogue just smiled. "We, I was working as part of a team."

"How many offers do you get from others agencies a week?"

"None."

Josiah frowned. "None?"

Smiling slightly, the surveillance expert just look at Josiah. "Why would I get any? Besides this is starting to feel like an interrogation. "

"We aren't interrogating you, we just want to know. Its not like you've told us any of this."

"JD, you never asked." Buck replied with a grin, and another sip of his drink.

"We're asking now."

"Why? It isn't like anything is different."

"You won an award that you weren't going to tell us about, you put away the most notorious crime lord, and you ask what's different?" Ezra question.

"I didn't put him away, I helped put him away. Besides I wasn't even going to go to the award ceremony. Travis blackmailed me."

Chris frowned, "he blackmailed you? What did he blackmail you with?"

Buck looked startled for a minute, "Nothing, nothing important, doesn't matter now."

"Yes it does."

Glaring at Larabee, Wilmington shook his head. "No it doesn't."

Chris was about to argue further then dropped it. He could always find out from Travis, what he had said to make Buck go to the award ceremony. Changing the subject, he asked "Anything else you want to tell us about your extra work?"

"No?"

"How many nights a week on average are you helping out other departments or giving classes?" Josiah asked.

"A few nights a week, its not like I have a secret life you guys don't know about."

"Well you do, none of us besides Chris knew you even anything with the other departments, much less solve their cases. What else have you not told us?" Nathan asked.

Buck blink, the drinks that he had been drinking were finally catching up to him. "Nothing?"

JD saw the slightly drunk Buck and smiled. "Why don't you display your awards or at least show them?"

"Don't want to, most of them I got for being stupid. No point of showing off how stupid I am."

"You did not get them for being stupid, or being reckless." Chris almost roared.

Buck blinked a few more times, then looked at Chris. "Did so."

"You didn't, and if you keep saying that I'll tell the how you got some of those metals."

"But I didn't do anything to get the awards except that."

"So saving my life was stupid?" Chris asked.

"No!"

"So how can you say your awards are for being stupid or reckless?"

Buck frowned, his alcohol inhibited brain not getting the reasoning very well. "I can't?"

Chris closed his eyes for a second to gathered his thoughts, "Right, and if I hear about it again, we'll have a nice little chat about them, with the rest of the team."

Buck stared at Chris for a second and nodded. JD thought wondered about something. "He saved your life?"

Chris nodded, "Yes, I was doing something stupid."

Which on hearing that, slightly drunk blue eyed man started to chuckle quietly. Glaring at his friend, Larabee continued. "A suspect rabbet, as we were cuffing the gang, I took off after him. Buck, handed his man off to the officers that were there, and followed me. He caught up to me just after the man knocked me unconscious and from what I read later, he was about to stab me in the heart. Buck came in and some how talked the guy into giving him the knife and saved me from the stabbing death."

"Should of shot him."

Chris sighed, "Buck how were you supposed to do that without killing me, if I remember correctly, you wouldn't have been able to get a clean shot."

Wilmington just glared. Larabee ignored the glare, "How did you talk the knife away from that guy any how."

The surveillance expert kept his mouth shout, and seemed to stare at the ceiling, refusing to answer. Staring thoughtfully at his old friend, something clicked in his head. "How did you talk to the guy, he only spoke Russian."

Buck continued to look up at the ceiling. "You know Russian don't you?"

Receiving no answer from the man, Chris looked at the rest of the group. "The report said, Buck talked him down, but the only that is possible if he knew Russian."

"I don't know Russian."

"Then how did you talk to the man."

A long drink, was the answer to Chris question. Buck stood up and headed to refill the cup. "Haven't you had enough?" Nathan asked.

The agent just blinked. "No."

Returning to his seat, he took a long swallow from his drink. "Can we move onto something else?"

"Not till you tell us if you can speak Russian or not." Chris stated.

"Why, it isn't important."

"Yes it is, you file doesn't say you can speak any languages."

Before Buck could replied, JD jumped into the argument between the two. "You can read lips."

"You said you wouldn't say anything." The slightly drunk agent said, sounding like a five year old.

"You said everyone knew." The youngest agent stated.

"No one ever ask, I said that if they wanted to know they could just ask."

"We're asking now." Nathan stated.

"Yes, I can read lips, learned to pass the time while I was on surveillance."

The group looked at each other. "How long have you been able to do that." Standish asked.

Buck smiled. "Awhile."

"You aren't answering any of the questions." Josiah stated.

"I answered a couple."

"No you haven't, all the information have come from one of us, not you." Vin pointed out.

The man in question just smiled. Exchanging glances, the other six didn't know where to go from there. Ezra suddenly smiled. "Have you learned anything else while working on surveillance."

Buck shifted slightly. "Like what?"

"How many languages have you learn or speak?"

"Enough."

"Mr. Wilmington, you still aren't answering the question."

"Did so, I said enough."

Chris smiled evilly for a moment, "What about your Masters?"

Buck opened his mouth then closed it. Glaring at the blond leader, he finally sighed and ask, "How?"

As the rest of the team was staring, Larabee gloated slightly. "Not that hard to find out, its listed in the program. "

Under his breath, the drunk surveillance expert mutter something that sounded like stupid, evil Travis.

The rest of the team was absorbing the information. Finally, JD was the first to speak. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Nothing to tell, got it in some free time. Hardly remember that I got it most of the time. Just needed it to do something else with.'

Larabee frowned for a moment, "When did you get it?"

"A few years ago. As I said I needed to get for something."

Curious, Nathan had to ask, "What's it in?"

"You aren't going to leave this alone, are you?"

Nathan smiled. "Nope."

Sighing, Buck looked up at the ceiling for several long minutes, "It's a Masters of Science degree in Forensic Science."

The group was stunned for several seconds. Ezra final spoke, "So, when you made Nathan and I explain those highly scientific forensic reports, you already understood them. "

The man in question, instead of responding to Standish, had fallen into a drunken sleep. The undercover agent, growled slightly.

Several chuckles could be heard from various areas in the room. Ezra just glared at the sleeping man. After several minutes, Chris got up, and motion for Josiah to help him move Buck into one of the spare rooms. The rest of the group watched for several seconds. Vin looked at the undercover agent for a minute. "Ez, I don't think he's going to answer you."

"I'm sure, I'll get an answer from Mr. Wilmington once he wakes up."

The three other men in the room exchanged glances and smiled. Nathan shaking his head piped in saying. "I wouldn't bet on it. If tonight was anything to go by, you aren't going to get anything out of Buck, that he doesn't want you to know about."

Ezra shook his head, "You are wrong, Mr. Jackson, there are other ways of finding out this information."

The end.


	3. Chapter 3

The soft sounds of music floated through the room. The people in the room, paid little attention to the soothing music, they were waiting to hear from the doctors about those that were behind the double doors..

In on corner of the room, were six men, each arguing, passing a phone back and forth, like an adult version of hot potato. Each man had an excuse, each had a look of panic and fear in their eyes. Finally, the leader of the group took the phone.

Looking at it like the phone was a very poisonous snake. With great apprehension, he dialed a number, he had wished never to use. The rings on the phone sounded like death knells. Finally, the phone was answered. Larabee."

"Chris, this is Ralph Paul, there was an accident..."

)()(

The doors of the waiting room burst open, six men seemed to appear from the shadows. They were in a wedge formation, looking like a arrow, ready to strike down those in their way. The group of six men in the corner of the waiting room, all thought that death couldn't look any scarier.

They watched as the six men, made a beeline for them. The black clad leader stopped just a few feet from them, glaring at the group. The rest of Larabee's crew seemed to fan around the man, half circling the other team. The group of ATF agents were silently staring at the team that they had called.

Chris was the first to break the silence. "What happened, he wasn't supposed to get hurt, you can borrow him but he had to return unhurt. Why wasn't he protected."

Ralph looked at the group, taking a deep breath he stepped forward. "He shouldn't have gotten hurt, he wasn't even near the action. The bust went fine, no problem, we got everyone. But someone went after him. The only thing we know, is that the back door was open and he was injured. He's the only one who could know what happened."

Why wasn't there protection on him, he was supposed to have it."

"He sent the guy away. There wasn't anything we could do. We didn't know anything was wrong until he didn't respond to the radio check."

With his glare turned on high, Chris was about to respond, when a lone doctor came out, asking for anyone there for a Mr. Wilmington. The rest of Team Seven, including Larabee, turned their attention away from the other team and towards the doctor, surrounding the doctor before he could take more then two steps.

"How is he?" The man in black asked.

The doctor looked at the men surrounding him. "You are here for Mr. Wilmington?"

"Yes, we're here for him, how is he, he'll be okay?" JD piped up.

The long pause before the doctor said anything worried the group, they just knew that it couldn't be good. The doctor finally started to talk. "He is still unconscious. His other wounds aren't serious, they would just make him sore for awhile, but it seemed that he was hit in the head with a hard object. He has a small fracture of the skull and we believe that it will heal without a problem, but he hasn't woken up yet. We won't know how bad it will be until he does."

"Can we sit with him, he'll wake up faster if one of us is around."

The doctor sighed. "I can let one of you stay with him at a time, he's in ICU until he wakes up. You'll have to do it in shifts."

The men nodded and followed the doctor towards their missing man's room. As they left the waiting area, the six other men, that had been involved in the incident that had happened, let out a breath. Just as they thought to relax, Josiah appeared before them.

"Just a warning, you may want to disappear, Chris will at some point shift his focus from our injured teammate and turn it towards those that didn't protect him."

The group nodded, and headed towards the door, Ralph looked at Josiah for a moment, "Keep us inform?"

Josiah just smiled, and turned and followed to where the rest of the teammates had disappeared.

)()(

The music was cut off the minute they walked through the door to the rooms, the Team Seven ignored it, they hadn't been paying attention to it the first time. The doctor stopped at the door to the room, where Buck was recovering in. "I let you all in the room to see him for a few minutes, but then it can only be one or two of you at a time."

Nodding, the group open the door and flooded in. Each of them took a position around the bed, looking at the various machines, they all worried for a second when they realized that they knew what each of them was for an how to read it. Their eyes turned towards their teammate Finally, Dunne broke the silence that had fallen in the room. "He's going to be okay right Nate?"

Nathan opened then closed his mouth, he wasn't sure what to say. "He should be fine, but we won't know for sure until he wakes up."

That information seemed to galvanize Chris into action. "I'll take first watch, we switch off at two hour intervals."

JD was going to protest but Vin shook his head to stop him. Sighing, JD shut his mouth and shuffled out with the rest of the team. Larabee watch them go. The minute the door was shut he turned back to his long time friend and sighed.

"Big dog, we had a deal, this isn't what I meant about staying safe. You'll be lucky if I let you do anything with another team now."

Sitting down next to the bed, Chris looked at Buck, the bruising on his face, and the bruising that he knew extended down the injured man's chest. Leaning back into the chair, he stared at the unconscious man.

"You know, I did ask Travis what the blackmail, he had that he threatened you with. Took a lot of work to get it out of him you know. Course when I found out, I couldn't figure out why you kept it silence on it."

Chris trailed off, as the memory of that day came back to him.

_He had waited till the rest of the team had gone home, and then made his way to Travis's office. Reaching it, he was happy to see that the ex-judge was still in. Letting the secretary announce him, he walked into the office. _

_Greeting Travis, he took the seat that was offered. Travis examined Chris for a second then asked, "What can I do for you?"_

_Those were the words that he had waited for, "After Friday's award dinner for Buck, we got to talking, and he just happened to mention that you blackmailed him to go to this award thing. What was the blackmail?"_

_Travis blinked, finally with a small smile, the ex-judge ask, "Why do you want to know? What was stated, was between the two of us."_

"_I'm his friend and leader, if someone is blackmailing one of my men, whether it's a boss or criminal, I should know about it."_

_Travis sighed, "Did you asked him?"_

_A grumble yes was the answered that was giving. Smiling, the ex-judge shook his head, "How drunk did you let him get?"_

"_Not drunk enough, so what did you say to him?"_

_After several long minutes dragged by, Travis finally spoke. "I'll tell you, but it goes no further from this office, and if Buck ever finds out, I'll know who told him."_

_Chris nodded._

"_That includes Buck, I will not have him find out that I told someone about it.."_

"_I promise."_

"_I didn't really have blackmail on him, but I knew that he didn't want the information about the award dinner to come out, or even why it came about, but what I really had on him was that his talent in surveillance was being notice and certain people, in high places wanted him to work for them very badly."_

"_But, people are trying to get all of us, JD and Josiah especially."_

"_They want your members of your team on theirs, they aren't trying to make them lead a team. They want Buck to hand pick a team and lead it that would only do surveillance.. They've been pressuring Buck for awhile now, they finally backed off, but Buck didn't want any of you to know that."_

"_He wouldn't leave, none of us would leave the team."_

_Travis shook his head. "I know that, you know that, but Buck doesn't see it that way, he wanted it kept quiet."_

_Chris shook his head, "idiot" he whispered softly. "Thank you, I have to go."_

_The ex-judge nodded, watching the leader of the seven leave he called out once. "Don't tell him, he doesn't want anyone to know."_

_Nodding, he left._

Now , that promised he had made seems small. Staring at his friend, Larabee watched the rise and lowering of the man's chest. Finally, he spoke, no louder then a whisper. "I know you won't leave, so it wasn't much of blackmail. None of us would of cared. It isn't like you let us keep things quiet. This self-sacrifice thing you seem to carry around, needs to be dropped, you are just as important to us as we are to you. But, I think that will be a conversation later. After you wake up, I'm going to find out about all these offers for your services and tell them that you are part of Team Seven, and you aren't going anywhere."

With this said, Chris fell silent and the rest of the two hours remained. Chris would occasionally say a few things about what he was going to do to whoever did this to Buck. As the two hours were up, a knock was heard on the door, Larabee got up, and answered it, JD was on the other side.

Greetings were exchanged, good-byes were said to Buck, and Chris left JD to his watch..

JD for his part, stared at the man he thought of as his big brother. It was so strange to see him lying there still. Buck was never this still even on stakeouts. Sitting down on the vacant chair, he stared at the Wilmington, finally grasping the lax hand, the young agent started to talk.

"Chris is mad, he almost killed the team you were working with it, I don't think I would have stopped him. He said you aren't supposed to get hurt, yet here you are. This isn't fair. You could of told me you were helping another team, it wasn't like I was doing anything. What if the other team hadn't gotten there in time."

JD fell silent, the quietness of his brother, started to edge on him. "This isn't right, its like your awards, Awards you don't talk about. I have to confess, I looked at them all.. You have a navy cross, you don't have it on display. It doesn't say how you got it, but I bet you were saving someone. This saving someone is going to get you killed, you can't help everyone."

Falling quiet, the young computer expert, watch the injured man's face, hoping to get some indication that he was going to wake up. Letting several minutes past, the young man started to speak again, not able to deal with the silence.

"I think the rest of the guys were surprised about how many awards you had, they all wanted to see them. Just to look at them. Its not like you ever shared that information with us. I think everyone was surprised, except Chris about the metals. Larabee won't tell us anything, said we had to ask you. Course you won't tell us. So I'm warning you now, when you get home, your going to tell at least me about your awards"

With that JD fell silent, and just watched Buck, hoping that he would wake up. The two hours seemed to past quickly, he was rather surprised to see Nathan coming through the door.

"Has he woken up yet?"

"No, he hasn't, he is going to be okay right?"

"He'll be fine, he's just taking his time in wake up. Now go home and get some sleep."

"But..."

"No, buts. Chris was able to leave, so you can. Besides, Buck wouldn't want you to get sick."

Sighing, JD left. Jackson watched as the door, shut then turned his attention to the unconscious teammate.

Settling down on the chair next to the bed, Nathan stared at the lines going into Buck. Sighing, Nate, started to talk to fill the silence in the room. "You know, this isn't going to work, you're going to get out of the lecture I have planned. Course this might have to happen after Chris gets his hands on you."

Stopping for a moment, Nathan took a sip of the water that he had brought in. Leaning back into his chair, he started to talk again. "You know, I looked into your medical records. Seems you've been hurt more then just a scrape leg. I saw bruised ribs, strain muscles and scraps. Things that you couldn't have gotten by staying safe in the surveillance van or office."

Nathan stopped as a nurse came in to check on Buck. After she had taken his temperature and blood pressure she left. The team medic had quietly watched, not wanted to disturb the women. When the nurse left, Jackson turned back to the slumbering man.

"You need to wake up, Chris is ready to tie you to your desk, JD, I think isn't so far behind him. Course me, I might have to give people a rundown of your injuries you've received. If you didn't try to hide so much, then we may leave you alone about. It would be nice if one of you would actually admit to being hurt once and awhile. Then I wouldn't have to worry so much."

Falling into silent for a few minutes, his mind wandering back to the award dinner. Resettling himself in his chair, and taking the last sip of coffee, Nathan eyed the unconscious man.

"You know, it wasn't till the award dinner a few weeks ago that I realize how little we knew about you. Or more exactly your history. We know more about Vin and Ezra's childhood. We seem to only know the stuff that deals with Chris and you. Course I can't ask you now but I have questions. Lots of them, I think the rest of the team would want to know the answers."

Before Nathan could go into more, the door to the room open, and Josiah walked through.

Looking up at the team profiler, Jackson was surprised. "Its been two hours already?"

A slight smile showed on Josiah's face. "Yes, its been two hours, he woken up yet?"

"Nope, but when he does, he's going to have a little talk with me."

Nodding in agreement, the two men said their good-byes, and the profiler settled down into the chair. For a while, he just stared at the unconscious man. His mind running through the things, he had learned about the man in front of him, and the things that were still a mystery. Leaning back into the chair, tried to figure out the mystery of Buck.

_It hadn't been hard to realize that he wouldn't have gotten any information from Buck. Chris seemed even more reluctant to give out information._ _The knowledge that he had been able to gathered had been hard to get. What he did have though allowed him to start to understand his friend.._

_Josiah sometimes felt a little guilty, but he couldn't stop. It was rather like, Buck was like one of those Chinese puzzle boxes. Sanchez couldn't put those down until he solved them, Wilmington was becoming the same thing. He knew the basic facts, when the man had been born, his mother name, when he had entered the navy, left it. The simple things to find, the facts, dates, but nothing that told him about the man himself._

_Observing the man as a teammate, he knew that Buck was loyal, a good friend, a leader in his own right, but one who preferred Chris to lead. Wilmington, was willing to help out anyone who ask, and was good with people. Beyond that though, very little beyond the basic could be figure out. _

_For someone who made sure you knew more about his social life, he didn't talk about anything else but. Nothing of awards, help with other teams or even schooling. Yet, you could say what sports he liked, who he was dating, and even the office gossip. It was a very frustrating puzzle._

_Everyone who, he had talked to, didn't give him any more information. Some questioned him, on why he was looking into Buck. The only thing he was able to resolve was that the surveillance expert was very sought after for his skill. It seemed that the Wilmington had as many offers as the rest of the team members. But unlike the rest of his teammates he was able to keep it all quiet._

As the man on the bed shifted, it brought Josiah out of his thoughts, to have him focus on the injured member of the team. Eying the man to see if he woke up, seeing that he hadn't. Josiah settled back in his chair, he spoke to the unconscious man. "You are a very frustrating puzzle Mr. Wilmington, but one I'm determined to figure out."

Josiah slide back into his thinking about the puzzle that laid in front of him. Before he knew it, Ezra and Vin walked into the room.

Spotting the two men, the profiler raised an eyebrow. "I believe that Chris said that we were suppose to take two hours each."

The two men smile "Yes, but Mr. Tanner here, said he would keep me company, while we discuss certain findings, in hoping analyzing Mr. Wilmington."

"He hasn't woken up yet."

"I have little fear that our injured companion, will wake up very soon."

Josiah stared at the two men. Shaking his head, he gathered his things up to leave. Looking at the two men one more time, "just behave, I don't want to be the one who tries to calm down Chris, cause you woke Buck."

Two innocent smiles meant the glare. Shutting the door behind him, the profile wonder what the two men were up to.

—

The two men watched as the door shut. The brown hair sniper glared at the undercover operative "So he isn't awake yet."

Gazing at the man lying in the hospital bed, Ezra smiled. "I have little fear of Mr. Wilmington not waking up while we are here. Besides, I thought you wanted to know what I had learn about are humble surveillance expert."

Settling himself on one of the chairs, Vin frowned, "Yes, but you haven't told me anything yet, you just keep hinting on stuff."

Smiling the gambler of the group sat down in the other chair. "I have to hint with Mr. Larabee gazing over my shoulder."

Huffing slightly at that, Tanner turned his attention to the injured teammate. Looking closely at Buck, he could of swore that he saw the man move and blink at him. Deciding that it was his imagination, he turned back to Ezra. "So?"

Ezra leaned back, "it seems that are boisterous friend has been hiding things from the group."

Vin raised an eyebrow at that. "So, we all hide some things."

"Yes, we all hide something, but not everything, and some less. I will say we know more about your own history then Mr. Wilmington. "

"Like what?"

"Its seems that for saving Mr. Larabee's life, our friend there won the Police Lifesaving Medal, also it seemed that he does know how to speak Russian fluently, no less."

"Wonder why he didn't tell anyone, the rest of us have a second language, course Russian isn't one of them."

"You are right, but what's interesting, is that it isn't listed anywhere on his record. I had to go to his college transcript to find it. But that isn't the only enlightening thing I found in his record."

The two men turned and looked at the teammate who was in the hospital bed, Ezra's eyes showed mischief, "Its seems that Buck has issues with bunnies."

A soft snort was heard from the bed. The two men kept watch smiled, Standish continue his information sharing. "It seems the issues with rabbits, had him banned from several pet stores."

A slightly louder chuckle was heard from the hospital bed. Ignoring the noises, Ezra continued "It seemed that the pet stores were rather annoyed that rabbits seemed to escape every time that Buck came walking by."

A snort and laughter was heard from the bed. Both men at this turned and stared at the bed. Grinning, Vin was the first to say something. " I think someone is awake."

"I believe you are correct."

Quietly the two men, stood and made their way over to the bed, staring down at the injured party who was pretending to sleep, the undercover expert smiled. "I think he's been awake for awhile, just playing possum. "

A lone blue eye opened, glared at the southern, then shut again. A whisper filled the silence. "You were talking to loud, how could I not be awake."

"You've been awake for longer then that Bucklin. No one wakes up from a fracture skull this cheery."

The other blue eye cracked open to stare at the sniper for a minute, then shut. The two healthy men smiled at each other. Ezra's smile though stared to become a rather evil looking grin. "Now Mr. Wilmington that you are awake, I have several questions, which you will answer or I'll call Chris right now, and tell him you were awake when he was in the room."

"You have no proof."

"I would listen to him Buck, Ez here is known to be underhanded."

A slight hurrah came from the man lying on the bed, then a sigh. "Fine, what do you want to know?"

"Well, for starters why did you lie about not understanding the forensics reports, making us explain everything? Also, when did you get it?"

A soft chuckle was heard first. "Made you feel wanted didn't it? I got it a few years ago, just needed the piece of paper at the time."

A stare was exchanged between the Vin and Ezra, each other could see the thought dawning in the others eyes. "Let me guess it was about the time after the unfortunate explosion that took Chris's wife and son."

A blurred glare was giving to the two men. Knowing that they had hit upon the reason for the master degree, and most likely also the reason he didn't share that information with the rest of the team, the two men let it dropped. Quickly moving on, Tanner spoke quickly, "Why didn't you tell us you were helping other teams, we would of helped."

A slight cough, had Standish offering the Wilmington a glass of water, after taking a sip, the surveillance expert sighed and spoke. "Didn't think to ask. The first time was over a weekend when everyone else had plans. After that I never thought about it. Besides I leave a schedule now of who I'm helping out."

"That's only because Nathan, thinks you're lying about your hospital visits."

Glaring at Vin, Buck grunted. "He worries to much."

"Better you then me." Ezra stated.

Settling down on the closest seat, Standish started up with his questions again. "How close are you with the current FBI director?"

"That's a dirty question, I was playing nice, wouldn't have helped in the first place if it wasn't for Travis."

Closing his eyes, Buck tried to tune out the two men. In closing his eyes, he missed Vin flicking his eyes over to the doorway of the room.

"To continue on about the things we didn't know about you, seemed that you have many more job offers then first mention. I believe you said zero, but it seems that you get as many calls as the rest of us. Course someone of them more interesting then others. "

Opening his eyes again, until the blue eyes were focused on the undercover expert, Buck grunted. "They aren't interesting, they want me to teach or some other rubbish like that, not interested in them."

"Never thought you were. Course the stories some of the men, who called and had worked with you were interesting. One day you will have to tell us how exactly one can use a feather boa and duct tape to save several agents."

Looking shock, Wilmington just groaned. "Never, I told them never to speak of that. I'll have to shoot them."

"Must be an interesting story, which you, will have plenty of time to share, while you stay at Chris's ranch for the duration of your convalesce."

"I can rest at home."

Tanner smiled, "Nope, Larabee was quiet certain that you were staying with him. JD didn't even argue."

"That's not fair, I'm fine."

"About that, I believe are favorite medic plans on lecture , a very long one, of course I may be wrong, but I believe Mr. Jackson has charts set up."

Before he could say anything, Vin noticed the heavy eyes and yawn that Buck was hiding. "I think Bucklin needs some of his beauty sleep. We'll have lots of time to bug him later."

Closing his eyes, the injured man didn't watch the as Ezra left and Vin settled in a chair for the last watch.

—

Just outside the room, Ezra stopped and turned to the man who had been lurking in the shadows of the doorway. "Mr. Larabee, it is rather rude to eavesdrop on a conversation."

"Wasn't eavesdropping, was gathering information."

"Be that as it may, I would suggest you wait for whatever talk you have plan for later. Preferable after we get done getting our answers out of Mr. Wilmington."

"Don't worry, I'll wait. Besides I'll have to get him drunk and tie him down first, and Nate won't let me do it, till he heals."

Nodding, Ezra sighed, "then I would suggest that you get some sleep while you can."

"Don't worry, I'll be joining Vin soon. Just going to get some coffee."

Looking back at the room, Standish smiled. "I'll join you. Maybe you know about the boa and duct tape."

Chris just smiled, as the two men headed to get coffee.

The end


End file.
